Captain Grammar Asshole!
"Bated breath," not "baited breath." If it's the latter, I want explanation. Actually, no, I don't.
"Begs the question" - just don't. Let's retire that one. It sounds wrong if you use it correctly and vice-versa.
When I am Emperor of North America, using the word "utilize" will cost you twenty-five cents.
"Conversate" should cost five bucks.Originally Posted by Ian
Can we use "Begs the question" in a alternative fiction piece?
As Laura kneels she begs the Question. Please she says, please she repeats, please she cries, please she detonates with the force of her voice. Please as if it's the only word that supports her cracked open heart. Please as if it's the only word that the priest will bless. Please as if it's the only word that can move the mind of God. The priest regards, her he sits upon his throne of thorns and regards her with a mixture of bemusement and annoyance.
"You had your question yesterday and your answer was manifested today. Why will your trouble the Lord? And why have me query a matter that is bound to be sacrilegious even for me to ask?"
"Please," the mother begs the question "I just want to know if my boy was allowed through the Gates.
See, poor grammar is an excellent source of creative endeavor.
... the debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future."
~ Abigail Scott Dunaway
Works on the Creative Commons by me. Go ahead, steal something. Now with pictures!
http://celestial-dung.deviantart.com/
Using apostrophe's to pluralize word's. I never used to see that, and now I see it so often I wonder if they are teaching it in school.
For those still wondering: bated is short for abated. It's from back when people used the word abate and contracted it. "Baited breath" doesn't make any sense.
Seeing/reading "From whence" makes me angry. "Whence" means "FROM WHERE," so saying "From whence" is REDUNDANT AND WRONG. Nation, please stop using that word if you don't know how. "Send him back to the English class whence he came."
And yes, it is used wrongly in the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and pretty much everywhere else, which means the word whence really ought to be retired.
Whence is, of course, archaic, so using "from where" is acceptable.
"Baited Breath" makes perfect sense if your breath smells like worms.
!
I don't recall having heard anyone use that one correctly in the last 10 years.
"Sometimes a stick in the eye is a tool for enlightenment, but mostly not." Manfred Minsk
Fear is the thief of dreams.
I've given up expecting people to use "(our plans) panned out" and/or "...fell through" correctly. If you say these phrases, it's almost a certainty you are using the terms to mean exactly the opposite of what they actually mean.
"Kids that didn't want to play along got trampled."
...Christopher Scum
How's business at the Tater's Awssum Possum Cafe? Did the beer board buy your explanation that she's a Melungeon during that hearing last night?
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